Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, and Zune, Early Successes on Xbox LIVE

Microsoft issued a press release touting the initial success of the recent Xbox 360 update, which added social network connectivity, streaming music, and 1080p HD movie streaming for Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers.

According to Microsoft, nearly 2 million members logged into their Facebook accounts via Xbox Live during the first week. The number of Twitter users wasn't revealed, but Microsoft claims that it "...was also abuzz with the Xbox LIVE community posting tweets from around the globe."

On the streaming music side, the company said "almost one million" users created Last.fm profiles during week one, each spending an average of 40 minutes creating customized radio stations and finding music. To top things off, 1.7 million users also visited Zune video less than one week after the update.

During the same week, 2.2 million unique gamers also played "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," setting a new one-day record for Xbox LIVE on November 10th. Whether the update was planned to coincide with the Modern Warfare 2 release or was merely a happy coincidence is unknown. That said, a record-breaking weekend would seem like the ideal time to generate traffic for some new applications.